


She chuckles,v./in k.,

by Ananfal, hatnhousejacket



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, Adventure, Boxers, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Government Conspiracy, Humor, LGBTQ Character of Color, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Queer Character, Queer Themes, Romance, Wyverns, boxers with pinks hearts on them, cuteness, flirty bickering, forest, herb gathering, mission, pants pulling, rescue animals, the nudist colony is the next island over, the yellow submarine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-06 02:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8731099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ananfal/pseuds/Ananfal, https://archiveofourown.org/users/hatnhousejacket/pseuds/hatnhousejacket
Summary: Agnes is a miltary student. Nyssa is a magical theory student - with a secret. *cue music* When they get paired together on a training mission, will they complete their task? Or kill each other first?Other questions: when will they realize they're flirting? (Soon, we hope.) WIll the wyvern ever get a name? (Something long, like Bartimaeus.) Who is Fred? What is the Commander hiding? Who will live in the yellow submarine? (Wait, you aren't supposed to know about that yet-)





	1. The Assignment

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This is a collab. For those less 'hip' than us, a collab is when two people write together a story - well, more like I yell at my girlfriend to get her ass in gear and stop doodling on everything (including my arm). Ahem. Anyways, this is an original work for the two of us, and we hope you enjoy.
> 
> Also just ps. I (the other gf) would like to make it clear that the arm drawing was not my idea and was in fact enthusiastically encouraged.
> 
> (Don't listen to her, she's just jelly of my awesome arms ;P)

**“Attention all 3rd year students, attention all 3rd year students! Please report to the auditorium! I repeat please report to the auditorium! The Solda Teduko students will arrive shortly; remember attendance is mandatory and will be checked at the doors!”**

“Well shit!” Nyssa scrambled down the ladder they’d been perched on, shoving Magikal Habits of Marine Species into their bag. Mandatory, they'd forgotten that the assembly was mandatory. A quick clap of their hands sent the ladder scampering back to its place at the far end of the library and they set off at a run. The library was exactly four flights below, and three unfairly twisty hallways away, not a distance easily covered ‘shortly’, which Nyssa tended to translate as ‘if it takes more than two minutes for you to respond credits will be deducted.'

They arrived, sweaty and panting, to find the auditorium full of students who actually looked fully awake and invested in the proceedings. This was odd. Nyssa flashed their faintly shining ID card at the bored looking golem at the door, responded to Mr. Folson’s raised eyebrow with a jaunty grin, and slid into the first empty seat they found. Leaning back and propping up their feet, they listened curiously to buzz around them. What with the fact that the auditorium contained about 350 students, all of whom seemed to be whispering to their neighbors simultaneously, it was a bit difficult to put together what all the excitement was about. As best as Nyssa could figure some sort of practical training exercise, apparently one of the non-torturous sorts, would be taking place.

“I can’t wait to meet them!”

“I bet they’ll all be covered in scars, oooh and muscles too!”

‘Well that explains all the hullabaloo,’ thought Nyssa, ‘no wonder! It’s visiting day. A bunch of trumped up jocks with itchy fingers, puffing their chests. This whole afternoon is going to be useless, thank Ay I brought my book!’

 

Agnes sighed mentally as she waited for the rest of the students to get into ranks. Gods, you would think they were first years again! All because they were excited at the prospect of visiting another school. Trips off-campus were highly restricted unless they were for training, so any chance to get off campus was extremely prized. Still, that didn't excuse the fact that they had all lost their brains somewhere between the announcement of the trip and the actual gathering for the trip.

“Alright, cadets, if you don’t line up properly in the next ten seconds, you’re on latrine duty for the next month! And no training trip for you!”

Well that certainly set the fox among the chickens. A mad scramble ensued, and shockingly everyone seemed to be in place by the time the countdown ended. Heaving another sigh, Agnes shifted her weight from one leg to the other as they all now waited for the resident magician to open the portal connecting their courtyard to the other school. Finally it was open and with a shouted command, the troop began to move forward.

They emerged into the open courtyard of the other school, Agnes thought it was Pensante Viro. Another shouted command came and they marched down the halls of the school building, their footsteps echoing maddeningly in the seemingly empty halls. Agnes wasn’t sure if the way was kept clear just for them or if there were actually just that few students in the building at the moment. (She was aware that they went on research trips often, especially in their fourth year.) They stopped right before the auditorium doors, and waited for their cue to walk forward. Inside the room, she could distantly hear, “-and now, all the way from Solda Teduko, their third year students!” The doors were thrown open, and chaos ensued.

Whispers and shouts filled their ears as the troop walked down the aisles, marching up to the stage and lining up in predetermined rows. When they were all settled, the dean of Pesante Viro went back up to the podium and called for silence. “This is the beginning of a wonderful collaboration between the Pensante Viro and Solda Teduko involving the third year students of both schools. Each student will receive a predetermined partner from the other school and will proceed to a training simulation held outdoors meant to test your skills. Please do your best, and make the school proud!”

 

“Ahem.” The stump Nyssa was sitting on wasn’t particularly soft, but Magikal Habits of Marine Species was proving to be a fascinating read. They flipped the page. “Ahem!” Had they heard something? Probably not. The meridian squids were just about to - “I’ll be taking that!” It was Mr. Folson.

“Hey!” Nyssa, tried to reach for their book.

“Miss. Phosos, if you would like to join the rest of us in reality, you might notice that we are in the midst of a _partnered_ training exercise. Now if you wanted to wile away the afternoon and waste both your credits and this learning opportunity on your own, it would be your prerogative. However, as you have a partner relying upon your participation, I will be confiscating this book and impressing upon you the importance of going over, introducing yourself, and **getting to work!** ”

Nyssa stood up, brushed themself off and started walking, “All right, All right! I’m going! Don’t get your tie in a knot, remember your blood pressure.”

Mr. Folsons voice cut them off, “Miss Phosos, your partner is that way.” “Oh…” Nyssa turned around and surveyed the line of rigid combat students. “Um which one are they?” Folson’s sigh seemed to echo around the courtyard. “Cadet Ensign 577, is to be your partner.” Nyssa squinted. “That one.” Folson pointed, “She’s the one with the purple hair.” Looking out, Nyssa located a short, solid looking girl, with lavender hair. 577’s face was unreadable and Nyssa winced a bit inside. Steeling themself, they set their face into their biggest smile and started over.

 

Agnes sighed internally but made sure that none of her exasperation showed on her face. Of course she would get the absent minded partner. Jason, one of her bunk mates, made a face at her behind the back of his own partner, one of the ones who thought that they knew better than the dumb soldier kids who just knew how to fight. She smirked back at him slightly, a slight incline of her head letting him know that she approved of any revenge Jason could think of for the arrogant man. Jason was the resident prankster of Group D (the cadets call it Group Death, for good reason), and for some reason, thought of her as his boss. Bolshik, he was aggravating. It did, however, mean that she had an untraceable source of rev\enge humiliation sitting at her fingertips. Jason gave her a double thumbs up and turned back around, skipping at the side of his prissy partner, who gave him such a look of disgust Agnes could feel it from where she was still standing in her original position, waiting for her partner to come to her.

Meanwhile, finally, one of the teachers had found her wayward partner and pointed her in the right direction (literally). Agnes let her eyes drift over her partner, not quite liking what she saw. The girl (or so she assumed) had some knowledge of hard work, more than others at this school for sure, but still seemed rather… soft around the edges. Naive, definitely, from the romantic look in her eyes. Idealistic as well. ...Also sickeningly happy, judging from the sappy smile on her face. Great. Just Great. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes so hard they went back into her head, Agnes gave a slight incline of her head to the approaching mage and stood at attention. “Cadet Ensign 577, reporting for duty.” For good measure, she added a snappy salute.

Nyssa struggled to keep the smile on their face, had Ensign Cadet 5blahblah just saluted them!? Really!? ‘Ok’ they thought to themself, ‘it's not her fault that you’re going to hate every moment of this, so try to be nice. _Even if she is a total bore_.’ Taking a subtle steadying breath, they extended their hand. “Nyssa Phosos, I hear we’re cuffed for the afternoon.” “Indeed.” Was all the response that Nyssa got. 577 didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. “Weeeeell ok then.”  Nyssa was quickly losing faith in this conversation. They settled into an uncomfortable silence as they waited for the stern looking Solda Teduko teacher? general? to make his way down the line of students with their assignments. As they waited Nyssa observed the others around them and had trouble suppressing a groan when they saw Zachariah paired with an impish boy only five feet away. They turned quickly, hoping they hadn’t been seen. The last thing they needed was to deal Zach the Ass right now.

“Ah Miss Phosos.” Damn too late. “How kind of you to rejoin the rest of us, here in reality. I was beginning to think you’d have managed to avoid your responsibilities today as per usual. Not that I could’ve expected any better from someone of your sort.” Zach’s partner lost his grin, but not the mischief in his eyes.

Nyssa threw the kid a wink before answering, “Well occasionally lazy I may be, but I still get better marks than you, and manage to avoid being a pompous ass!”

All of a sudden Zack’s pants were down and his partner was quipping, “and what a nice ass you have too Zachariah!”

Even better Zach’s indignant sputtering was cut off by Mr. Folson, “As charming as your pink hearted boxers are Mr. Huntington, I would recommend that you pull your pants up.” Mr. Folson shot an accusatory glare at Nyssa. They turned to their partner searching for something to say that would give the impression that they’d been in conversation this whole time.

“So … how bout them clouds huh? Wild right?” Nice one Nyssa, good save there.

 

“Indeed.” Agnes agreed with her partner, one eyebrow quirking slightly as the only visible sign of her amusement with the whole situation. Jason’s loud voice could be heard stating, “Remember Zachy, the nudist colony is the next island over!”, which sufficiently distracted the Pensante Viro teacher for a few seconds, enough so that when he turned back to her and her partner, his anger had already diminished sufficiently to simply give them a warning glare before moving away to handle other trouble makers. Seeing her Commander move down the line a few students away from her, Agnes instantly snapped to attention, her fist moving to land over her heart with a small thump before she bowed at the waist, her other hand resting at the small of her back.

She stayed in that position until she heard the gruff tones of her Commander, ordering her to rise. She obeyed, her eyes fixing on his as a sign of respect. A small twitch of his lips signified his approval of her actions, and Agnes relaxed slightly. “Cadet, you and your partner are assigned to the Arbaro Forest. Your mission is simple: your partner is tasked to collect samples from several plants within the forest (here he handed a piece of paper to Nyssa, presumably with the names of the plants they needed to get samples of) while you are ordered to accompany her and protect her from _all_ threats. Do I make myself clear?”

There was a weight to his voice that Agnes couldn’t help but pick up on, her answering nod was equally solemn. “Yes, sir.” He nodded back at her, hesitated for a moment, but shook his head and muttered something under his breath (“barmy old codgers” along with “don’t know what they’re thinking” and “bound to be a disaster” - what this meant, Agnes had no idea) before he looked at Nyssa with an inscrutable expression and moved on to the next pair of students. Heaving out a sigh, Agnes turned to Nyssa and twisted her lips into a parody of a smile. “Are you ready to go, partner?”

 

It took a moment for Nyssa to react to stone faced 577 actually rearranging her face muscles. They thought she might be attempting to smile. ‘Oh Cadet no,’ they thought, ‘that is _not_ how one fakes a smile. This is how one fakes a smile.’ They flashed their partner a blinding grin, “Sure, born ready!” ‘And that's how you do it 577, it has to make your face ache.’ With their thought finished and questionable pleasantries out of the way, Nyssa glanced at the paper in their hand. Songi root, destripae seeds, milenrama flowers, and ajro. All (mostly) non-aggressive healing plants, this was going to be a cakewalk.

Nyssa started off towards the third portal from the right on the far end of the courtyard, motioning for 577 to follow. When they neared the turnstile, Nyssa pulled out their silver ID card. “This is us.” Checking to make sure that 577 had her card out too, it was a soft blue, they swiped their card and stepped through the metal bars into air that rippled ever so slightly. Nyssa had always loved traveling by portal. They tilted their head back and breathed in an hours long journey, a slow ride on an old train car and a grueling hike, compressed into a single second.

By the time their foot reached the ground they were standing in a small familiar clearing in the Arbaro forest. Nyssa stepped quickly to the side so as to not get barrelled into when their partner arrived then surveyed their surroundings. The weather was fair on this island, though a bit damper and chillier than they would have liked and the leaves were just beginning to turn. An aglojian wyvern wound through the treetops on small but effective scaly wings and there were soft chirps from assorted flora and fauna. Glancing back they saw that 577 had passed through looking almost perfectly composed, but Nyssa was pretty sure that their partner was slightly green around the edges.


	2. The Wyvern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go through a mysterious portal and find a mysterious animal. What is developing between our two little lovebirds??
> 
> Ps: the portal is not that mysterious and right now all that's developing is a brewing quarrel
> 
> Pps: a lover's quarrel... ;)

Krea, were portals always that bad?! Agnes hoped that none of her discomfort showed on her face, but it was clear from the amusement of her partner that something had slipped through. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she gave a sharp nod and looked at her partner, while still looking from the corner of her eyes at the surrounding forest. Just in case, you know... “Do you know approximately where in the forest these herbs can be found? Can they all be found in the same place, or will we need to stay here for more than one night? Are any animals attracted to these herbs for some reason, that you know of?” All important questions to ask right away. They had a week allotted to the training exercise, but Agnes certainly didn’t want to spend that entire time in the forest... with this strange girl. Just the forest would have been fine. Her Squad would have loved it here. Which made her wonder what assignment Jason was given, most likely something similar to hers but tailored towards his skill set. She shuddered slightly at the thought of his manic grin whenever he got to use his explosives supply. Then she suppressed a smirk at the thought of the explosions.

While she waited for answers from her partner, Agnes turned to the side slightly, keeping Nyssa within her vision, but also expanding her view of the surrounding forest. One hand dropped to the sword strapped at her waist, while the other extended from her body slightly, fingers spread and ready to cast her special brand of magic at a moment’s notice. Her entire body stilled, and yet seemed to relax at the same time, into the particular stance that identified her as a trained soldier of Solda Teduko. All hints of emotion (if there had been any to begin with) had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind just a cold, analytical mind coupled with honed power ready to be deployed.

 

Nyssa thought about their partner’s question for a moment before answering. “Well we can probably find some milenrama and ajro over there by the stream, they tend to grow near water. It’ll probably take us a while to round up enough ajro though, they can be tricky little buggers to get out of the dirt. We’ll have to go looking for the destripae and songi though. Those’re common enough that we won’t have to walk more than a few hours in any direction to find some. It’s mid-afternoon already so that bit should probably wait until tomorrow morning.” ‘To think that they gave us a week for this!’ Nyssa added mentally. 

577 nodded coolly and set off at a brisk pace that had them panting slightly to keep up. One day’s wild rush was plenty enough for them, thank you very much! The pair was nearing the stream when Nyssa, deciding that they didn’t much care for referring to their partner by a number, asked, “So …uh what was your name again? I didn’t quite catch it before.” “I didn’t tell you before.” was the only reply. “Well maybe you could tell me now?” “...It’s Agnes, Agnes Mariski.” 

There was a soft crunch under Nyssa’s foot and a strong but not entirely unpleasant smell wafted up. They smiled as Agnes’ nose wrinkled, this was a smell that they knew well, from their home’s cluttered but cozy kitchen. “Well lovely to meet you Agnes but this ajro isn’t going to pull itself. I assume you’ll be standing watch against the utter lack of threats this forest has to offer, while I wrestle with these guys.” Nyssa grinned at the slight downward quirk of Agnes’ lips that betrayed a measure of indignance. This girl wasn’t half bad to tease, despite being dull as a rock to converse with.

They weren’t joking about wrestling with the ajro. Ajro wasn’t a highly mobile plant, but it wriggled. It was especially difficult to get the tubers (the only magically potent part) because when they sensed you digging near them they squirmed further into the earth. It took a quick hand and stubborn grip to successfully harvest them and even then an average of two out of three roots would escape. The sun was threatening to set by the time Nyssa had caught a fair sample size of a little over a dozen. They grabbed some leaves too, for seasoning. If their past experiences with camping out had taught them anything at all, the food that they were going to be expected to eat would need it.

 

Utter lack of threat her ass... Agnes almost wanted to leave the girl on her own for a night or two, see how well she took the bears and wolves, before coming back and asking if she need a protector now... It would be just her luck though, if she got stuck with the one partner who had no notion of fear, or rather, self-protection in any way. Heck, the chit would probably enjoy having no supervision in a place like this! Restraining a sigh, Agnes did her best to stay alert and ready for anything the entire time that her partner was grubbing in the dirt, trying to ignore the aching of her muscles as she was forced to remain in one position for the majority of the time. The sun was already beginning to set before Nyssa had finally had enough playing in the mud and stood up, hands full of the many wriggling tubers and a suspiciously still pile of flowers.

Agnes knew they had to find a place to spend the night before dark actually fell, or else they would be in some serious trouble. Therefore she didn’t even wait for her partner to speak before she reached into her combat pack (from the outside it seemed as though it held much less than it actually did - a compliment to Agnes’ packing skills) and pulled out a small wrapping cloth, in which she dumped the roots and wrapped them up tightly, making sure none could escape before stowing them back in her bag. “We need to get a move on.” She said brusquely, gazing at her partner for a moment with cold eyes before whirling around to look at the surrounding forests. “Sticking by the stream is preferable at the moment, access to fresh water is always a good thing, along with a ready escape from most forest denizens. It’ll also give us a direction to go in if we ever get lost.” She was mostly thinking out loud for the benefit of her partner, something she was unused to since she mostly dealt with her Squad, who knew everything she did since they had gone through the same training.

With a sigh, she turned back to her partner. “Do you have anything that can help provide shelter for the night? If not, I can easily make something for the both of us. Do you have any experience hunting? I have food rations, but I prefer fresh meat whenever I can get it and I assume you’re the same way. I can also hunt, but I’m worried that having to do both tasks would last until night fell, and I’d rather avoid that if at all possible.” She didn’t mean to be so sharp in her words, but the serious tone of her Commander’s words was weighing on her shoulders, and she was taking this much more seriously than a simple training exercise. Something was off here, her instincts were screaming.

 

Nyssa’s instincts were telling them that if they waited till just the right moment they could, “Aha gotcha!” They reached out their fingers and grabbed the air. The air reached into the stream and  grabbed a salmon. “Well, I haven’t got a tent, or a pot, but point out a campsite and I’ll cook this up for dinner.”

Agnes blinked at them and then pointed to a spot a few feet away, “There’ll do.”

“No thanks for the fish?”

Agnes stared at them for a moment, “thank you for the fish…”

Nyssa grinned.“Thanks for the tent and the pot.” They watched their partner, seemingly miraculously, produce the promised shelter and tools out of a small pack. They suspected magic involvement. 

Nyssa grabbed the pot, threw together a fire pit, and snapped a spark into its center. Once the pot was simmering over the flames they threw in the fish and ajro. A couple well placed stirs and a touch of magic and the soup was almost done. They sat waiting, keeping a careful eye on the pot and watched Agnes setup and ward their tent. This ritual was familiar to them. Students of theory all had to study the basics of magikal phenomena in nature, which almost always involved camping out, much to the distress of their more … privileged classmates. Nyssa sniggered at the memory of Zach the ass’s face when he was told he would have to build an effective fence, by hand, by himself, before he would be able to ward his campsites, and that forgoing the outdoors portion of his studies was not an option. 

Agnes seemed absorbed in her thoughts. Her eyes, hazel or maybe golden Nyssa noted, were distant but her movements were sure. Nyssa watched, with a touch of admiration despite themself, as she went through the hammering motions that built the wards. She moved with a smoothness that could only come from long hours of practice and muscle memory. Nyssa grinned, no grifoj would disturb their sleep that night. Which was certainly reassuring considering that the last time that Nyssa had camped out it had been with a clueless classmate, who had insisted that he made the best wards north of the Malluma. The two had been woken up at midnight by a griffo attempting to make their tent into it’s nest.

 

Agnes built the wards carefully, but quickly, a slight sheen of sweat appearing on her bared skin since she had rolled up her sleeves and tied up the bottom of her shirt before beginning her work. Reaching a stopping point in the construction of the wards, she took a deep breath and put her arms behind her head, arching her back to get some of the cramps out of her muscles. Cracking her neck and knuckles at the same time, Agnes finished up the wards with some efficient gestures and sank to the ground with her legs in a crossed position. A few deep breaths later, she found herself slipping into that quasi-awake state she had accidentally discovered when she was a child still breaking out schoolyard squabbles. On one hand, physical activity during this state was almost impossible, but on the plus side… 50 feet away, one vine wolf howled out a greeting to another, two star moles burrowed together, and a lone spined snake slid through the undergrowth, likely in search of an early meal (for they were nocturnal, unlike most others of the serpentine family). Slowly, as though she was swimming through some sort of thick liquid, her hands sluggishly moved as though she was spreading seeds over the ground. Her magic responded eagerly, almost like a small puppy jumping forward at her command, flowing through the surrounding trees and taking up the task of monitoring for threats around them so that she could ease of her meditative stance and stand up.

By that time, Agnes noticed, the soup seemed to be almost done already, the heady scent filling the air around their little campsite. She was just about to ask about dinner time when she heard a soft sound. Raising up a hand to invoke silence from her unaware partner, she listened closely for a repeat of the sound. There it was! Stalking closer to the source of the sound, Agnes was entirely unprepared for what she found there. “Oh…” Her voice came out much softer than Nyssa had ever heard it before, the normally stern girl kneeling down in the bushes by the edge of the campsite, scooping something up and turning back to Nyssa. Agnes’ expression was just as soft as her voice, another shock to her partner, but even more so was the small clump of feathers shivering in her hands. “A baby wyvern… Aglojian, looks like. Poor thing…”

 

“P-poor thing?” Nyssa didn’t think there were any words that could’ve come out of Agnes’ mouth that would’ve surprised them more. They recovered themselves and looked more closely at the fluff ball that their partner was holding so tenderly. “Well! That’s an adorable little clump of feathers if I’ve ever seen one. Is it hurt? Or just lost?” Agnes’ surprising behavior could be mulled over later, this took priority. The fluff ball, a wyvern upon closer inspection, was trembling lightly in Agnes’ hands.

“Definitely hurt,” replied Agnes decisively, “but I'm unable to find the cause. I know the basics of combat first aid but most animal magik is not taught at Solda.”

“Not even the basics? Not even to students with familiars?” Nyssa asked, surprised.

“If you want to keep your familiar at Solda Tekudo you need to learn to care for it and train it on your own time, and such attachments are often frowned upon.” Agnes sounded as though she was reciting a speech she had heard many times before, a thread of bitterness hidden in her words. It was hard to pick out, but still present until she added with a dangerous looking grin, “There are those who do manage to care for and train their familiars well of course. They tend to be quite ... formidable.”

Nyssa grinned back, they could only imagine how effective a well trained wyvern would be as a scout, or a chameleonic serpent as an assassin. Deciding that the soup was as good as it was going to get they lifted it out of the fire and turned to Agnes saying, “Hand him here then. Pesante Viro’s covers most basic animal magiks in our foundation years, and Mam taught me better than any of my teachers before I ever set foot on the school's grounds.” They stuck out their hands and waited patiently. Agnes seemed reluctant to let the little guy go as she reached out to place the creature in Nyssa’s open palms. If they knew her better that would go into the file of things to tease her about later. 

As it was, they directed their focus at the wyvern. While they checked the creature for bodily harm (there didn’t seem to be any), they also squinted their eyes as they would to look into a microscope. It was a subtle little spell that allowed them to examine the wyvern’s magic too. That's where the problem was. The fluff ball seemed to have fallen from the nest before he was ready to fly, and drained so much magic avoiding a fatal impact with the ground that he dipped into his life force. Shit! Nyssa fixed a smile back on their face, “It’s just a twisted claw,” they fibbed, “poor kiddo’s just a bit in shock. I’ll fix him up.” It wasn’t that the wyvern was beyond their help, although to most he would be, but the technique that Nyssa could use to save him was exactly the sort of top secret, life altering if ever discovered, kind of a huge deal, magik ability that one did not just simply  _ do openly _ in front of a strange combat student that they’d met only a few hours before.

 

Agnes narrowed her eyes at the other student, her imaginary hackles raising as Nyssa first lied (outright  _ lied _ , she dared?!) to her, then proceeded to look pointedly at her in an attempt to get her to look away while the girl performed her magik. A silent growl rumbled in her throat before she conceded the point, looking away and towards the ward line, before gruffly muttering something about checking the perimeter - an utterly useless task, due to the fact that her magik was already patrolling for threats and nothing short of an artillery shell could break through her ward line. Still, it gave her time to relax and calm down (before she did something  _ rash _ ), her fists unclenching by the time she had made one circuit around the outside of the camp. Proceeding to take another lap around, Agnes used this time to think about  _ why _ Nyssa was lying to her.

It definitely had something to do with magik, and keeping something secret. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had any problems with letting Agnes watch her heal the little wyvern. On the other hand, it didn’t seem to be a threat to any of them (the wyvern included) otherwise Nyssa would have seemed more scared than she had been. Agnes didn’t want to push the issue, just in case (she was wary of secret magik after the one time Trish- well, anyway), and since there wasn’t anything she could really do about it at the moment, she resolved to put it out of her mind as much as possible. Finishing up her little walk, Agnes turned and went back into the camp ground, immediately going over to her small pack (which she had taken off and tucked inside the tent for safe keeping) and pulling out two little bowls, complete with spoons. “Normally they’re used to collect water for various tasks and magical acts, but I figured we could use them for soup just as well.” She said with a deliberate nonchalant air about her, peeking at the wyvern out of the corner of her eye. The little guy seemed to be better, but now his natural fear instinct was keeping him still.

Handing the bowls over to Nyssa so she could fill them with the still somewhat hot soup, Agnes crouched down next to the scared animal and gently held out her hand, her expression soft. “Hey there, baby.” If it had been anyone else, her voice could have been described as cooing, but since this was Agnes talking, it definitely  _ wasn’t _ cooing. “You don’t need to be scared. I’m not gonna hurt you. Come here, baby, let’s get some food in you.” And sure enough, the aglojian wyvern was nudging at her hand already, still somewhat scared but already a little trusting of the purple-haired girl. Carefully, Agnes picked up the little creature and carried him over to where the offal of the fish had been dumped after it had been taken from the gutted fish. Slowly she fed the remains to the wyvern, all the while softly cooing (it  _ wasn’t _ cooing, dammit) to the animal.

 

Agnes was cooing, actually cooing, to the wyvern. Nyssa choked back a laugh as they brought over the soup, handing her one lightly steaming bowl and keeping the other for themself. Nyssa watched with a bit of indignation as Agnes sniffed the soup cautiously -they weren’t some useless theory elite who’d never cooked a proper meal- but then again they supposed Agnes had no way of knowing that. ‘Well she’s in for a pleasant surprise,’ they thought as they took a long sip from their own bowl. The warm soup was rich and slightly spicy. Despite its simplicity the soup reminded them of their home’s cozy kitchen, which - under a tapestry of aromas of more complex spices - always smelled of ajro. Nyssa was satisfied to see Agnes’ eyebrow raise slightly as she tasted the soup, and further gratified to see that their soup warranted a nod of approval before she returned her attention to the wyvern.

The puff ball was nearly fine by that point, his magic reserves restored enough for him to recover the rest of the way on his own, and Nyssa's own magic barely affected by the effort. A good square meal never hurt and looking at the wyvern’s magic while he snapped up food from Agnes’ hand they were glad to see it was steadily healing. Everyone’s respective soup and carcasses were consumed in due time. Washing spells were employed and bedrolls fluffed. It was always a tricky process, trying to find the spot that would result in the least amount of pain the following morning, softening spells notwithstanding. The best those could do was dig out most of the worst rocks. With a cursory goodnight Nyssa turned from Agnes and went almost immediately to sleep. A skill that’s almost impossible to avoid developing in a household full of siblings.

 

It was sheer habit that made Agnes sniff the soup to check for poisons before she took a sip of it, although it seemed as though Nyssa thought it was some kind of insult to her cooking skills, judging by her expression. However, just one sip of the hot liquid was enough to make her eyebrow raise visibly. It wasn’t as good as her own cooking (if she didn’t learn to cook early, she would have went hungry - but that wasn’t important right now) but it was most definitely decent, especially for a Pensante Viro student. The soup was gone in a few minutes, Agnes letting out a small sigh of contentment at being full. It was sometimes a scarcity when living in the wild. A glance at the wyvern showed him asleep, flat on his back, wings outstretched, belly distinctly distended with the chunks of fish she had fed him, and snoring slightly. (Agnes  _ did not _ coo at the thing, dammit!)

Slowly smoothing a hand down the little creature’s feathers, Agnes took a deep breath and thought about what needed to be done next. Nyssa was already asleep, which made things both easier and harder for her. On one hand, she wouldn’t interfere with any preparations (not like she had so far, but it was the principle of the thing), but on the other hand, that meant that everything was up to Agnes in terms of protecting the camp. How tiring… And she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight either, since she had to keep watch. Normally they would take shifts so at least everyone got some sleep, but  _ someone _ had to go and drop off to sleep before agreeing to a schedule… Rolling her eyes, Agnes just sighed and got up, cradling the little bundle of feathers in her arms. Gently she entered the tent and tucked the baby wyvern into her sleeping bag. At least someone would enjoy it, since she wouldn’t get to use the damn thing tonight anyway. Resigning herself to a long night awake, Agnes propped herself up against a nearby log and began to watch.


End file.
